Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Yep! It's that time of year! Spring is here and the tulips were gorgeous in Holland, Michigan this past weekend! It's "Tulip Time" in Holland -- and I enjoyed my first successful craft show of the season.

I really wasn't quite sure what to expect. For starters, I've never done a 2-day show before. We like to reserve our Sundays for worship and family so I generally don't apply to do craft shows that encompass Sundays. After lengthy discussion with my husband, we decided to try a couple Saturday-Sunday shows this year -- but I only wanted to do the best. The Tulip Time Festival has been a local event for decades and draws visitors from all over the world -- it seemed like a perfect opportunity to try a full weekend. The craft show is held in Centennial Park and is probably the most beautiful venue that we've ever had for a craft show! It didn't hurt that the weather was generously cooperative -- cool but sunny -- the perfect spring days!

Because I've never done this show before, I don't have a baseline for how sales may have been affected by the economy (rising gas and food prices and the still high unemployment in Michigan). I was very satisfied with my sales, although I know that several vendors had a rough weekend. On Saturday evening, my husband spoke to a couple vendors who hadn't even made their booth fee and I know a couple vendors left early on Sunday afternoon due to lack of sales. As a jewelry vendor, I don't expect to do a really huge business -- there's always a lot of competition for those jewelry dollars--although I also have to say that at this particular show, I didn't see anyone else who's work is very close to mine. There are several different "flavors" of jewelry crafters and artisans and no one else offered my flavor. It was a delight to know that several buyers were purchasing for their weddings -- I just LOVE that! Also had a few sales for late-season proms.

Some of the shows I have scheduled this year will be repeat shows for me -- and I'm curious to see how they will go. Several shows are in areas with lots of tourists -- it will be interesting to see how gas prices affect the tourist industry. In talking to long-time vendors at Tulip Time, they felt that the numbers were down this year. Last year, it was my feeling that, although unemployment was high, those who were still working had spendable cash -- not so sure this year in the light of the prices of gas and food.

No matter what the future shows may hold, I was very pleased with my results at Tulip Time! Awesome weekend!!